Wanted chaparral skew motor

[subman]

Any one know if any dealer in Europe sells a Chaparral Skew Motors or maybe you have a spare you might want to sell me off a old corotor .

Many thanks

 

[Channel Hopper]

They rarely go wrong, usually with corotors the centre shaft ends up seizing through the alloy corroding.

Can you get the motor off the main unit without breaking the four screws ?

 

[subman]

Thanks CH I have got a replacement corotor coming but I will have a play with the old one as it does have a fair amount of corrosion one thing I did notice was the feed is pointing about 1 foot above the centre of the dish so it must have moved over the years . While I am changing over the arms I will realign the feed point with the centre of the dish . Light you say might just require a bit of WD40 but the centre does move by hand yes I have had the motor off before , I might remove the motor then give it a skew control and see if it moves or not .

 

[Channel Hopper]

Thanks CH I have got a replacement corotor coming but I will have a play with the old one as it does have a fair amount of corrosion one thing I did notice was the feed is pointing about 1 foot above the centre of the dish so it must have moved over the years . While I am changing over the arms I will realign the feed point with the centre of the dish . Light you say might just require a bit of WD40 but the centre does move by hand yes I have had the motor off before , I might remove the motor then give it a skew control and see if it moves or not .

If you have bought the 135 degree inox brackets with the new arms you should be OK

 

[subman]

The new arms were made up by Rimants and clamp round the neck of the corotor and not the scalar ring but I have worked out the plan to get to the old top support rod just move the dish over to about 70 east then get the step ladder in I can reach the top of the rim and the support rod . I will try a good spray of WD40 and leave it over night if all fails I will attack the nut with the dremel .

 

[Terryl]

Can you get a nut splitter over the rusted nut?

I use one of these....https://www.amazon.com/OEMTOOLS-25738-Inch-Splitting-Tool/dp/B003VWEL3Q/ref=sr_1_59?dchild=1&keywords=Nut+splitter&qid=1588192959&sr=8-59

Handy thing to have in the tool box.

 

[John]

The new arms were made up by Rimants and clamp round the neck of the corotor and not the scalar ring but I have worked out the plan to get to the old top support rod just move the dish over to about 70 east then get the step ladder in I can reach the top of the rim and the support rod . I will try a good spray of WD40 and leave it over night if all fails I will attack the nut with the dremel .

Rimants work is excellent - this new feed bracket now gives you two points of feed adjustment for optimum illumination via adjustable scalar positioning as well as optimum feed throat position

 

[Channel Hopper]

Picture 2 shows the brackets I mentioned

 

[subman]

Ok CH bracket yes it goes round the neck and not the scalar ring . As far as the skew motor goes I can turn it my hand and cant hear any buzz from the skew motor so I can only assume its died but I will remove the motor and see if the motor moves with no load the only problem there is the screws might have corroded into the aluminium body of the corotor but any way a replacement corotor is on its way as for replacement Ku LNB still looking for a Type R or E SMW but we shall see what turns up .

Thanks John Yes the replacement arms are very well made and should look much better than the old ones , Terryl As for the removing the nuts yes good idea the problem is finding a nut splitter with all the shops closed if not its a hack saw or dremel with some very fine cutting wheels . The only thing thats outstanding at the moment is a replacement Ku band LNB . I dont mine paying good money for a good one but the stuff on ebay is silly money for its age . Any thoughts on a C band LNB at the moment its a 30 Year old 40 Kelvin Gardiner .

 

[John]

C-band reception with your 3.7 mtr Precision - the world is your oyster. The only thing that will get in the way is how much of the arc you can see from it's mounting position on your property. Because there is nothing of interest for me in the 3.4 to 3.6 GHz region i opted for an Extended C-band lnb from Norsat that will bolt onto your Chapparal and which gives me the extended band 4.5 to 4.8 GHz as well as the range 3.62 to 4.2 GHz . It's the Norsat 8000RI 3.62 to 4.8 GHz and uses a LO of 5750. Iv'e been using mine for quite a few years now on my 2.2 Elite PF and for the price it performs good. The chap i got mine off is in the link

New Norsat 8000RI, C-Band DRO LNB 3.625 - 4.8 GHz ±500 kHz F Type 75Ohm | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for New Norsat 8000RI, C-Band DRO LNB 3.625 - 4.8 GHz ±500 kHz F Type 75Ohm at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[subman]

Thanks John for the info on the Norsat C Band LNB Yes seen a few of those on Ebay my old Gardiner is still working but I might just well go the full hog and replace the C band LNB as you can see with the corotor the corrosion is very bad . One thing I will do this time round is remove both of the elbows on the corotor and bolt both LNBs straight onto the corotor as we all know bends on waveguide means loss I did this before with the C Band but this time I will to it to the Ku side as well I seem to remember the Ku elbow is held by 4 x Torx screws so it should be straight forward to remove .

As for the hunt for a SMW Ku-Band Quad there are a few S/H type R that I have found but the seller wants almost the same price as new , Does any one know what is the spec of this LNB is its model NII 1000XA Ku-Band LNB Ive been told its Quad but can find nothing to confirm this .

As for Arc well 30 years ago I could go as low as just past 60 east and west was about 60 west then my neighbour put a 6 foot fence up .My problem was that 10 months of the year I was away so did not find this out until I return , So I bought the guy a 5 foot fence panel and I put the polarmount on a 2 foot concrete block so the 1 foot of the dish rim has the fence panel in the way but I can still see stuff even with the fence covering the bottom in those days I used this scope Luly but these days I use the sat look . I also need to give my jack a good rub down and a respray so got lots to do while we still have the lock

I wonder what you receive John with your Extended C-band lnb I wont be able to use that with the corotor as it only covers the standard C .7 -4.2 maybe I could mount a offset lnb and feed to the new mount .

Thanks again to all the info as got a lot to learn all over again .

 

[RimaNTSS]

I will try a good spray of WD40 and leave it over night if all fails I will attack the nut with the dremel .

Dremel, WD40l!! Common , Brian, just take angle-grinder with curt-off disc and split all rusted nuts@bolts.
And, before you spend lots of money, I would advise to test your antenna with something simple . I mean single LNB, C-band or Ku-band.

 

[subman]

Hi Rimants yes I fully understand your feelings why play with when you could gas axe it off but its a 30 year old dish and I dont want to damage it but its straight forward cut the nut then pull out the old support rods and fit your new ones .

The system is still working and at the moment its set up on Astra 4 signals are about 80% without any playing around and looking at the old arms feed arms seem to have bent so the feed is looking about 1 foot above the centre of the dish .

As soon as the replacement corotor arrives I will start removing the old arms who knows they might just unscrew .

 

[RimaNTSS]

I will start removing the old arms who knows they might just unscrew .

That is what I am saying, you will not use those rusty parts anymore, so why should you be gentle to them?! Angle-grinding will not do any harm to the dish if you use it in the right way. Anyway, good luck.

 

[John]

Thanks John for the info on the Norsat C Band LNB Yes seen a few of those on Ebay my old Gardiner is still working but I might just well go the full hog and replace the C band LNB as you can see with the corotor the corrosion is very bad . One thing I will do this time round is remove both of the elbows on the corotor and bolt both LNBs straight onto the corotor as we all know bends on waveguide means loss I did this before with the C Band but this time I will to it to the Ku side as well I seem to remember the Ku elbow is held by 4 x Torx screws so it should be straight forward to remove .

As for the hunt for a SMW Ku-Band Quad there are a few S/H type R that I have found but the seller wants almost the same price as new , Does any one know what is the spec of this LNB is its model NII 1000XA Ku-Band LNB Ive been told its Quad but can find nothing to confirm this .

As for Arc well 30 years ago I could go as low as just past 60 east and west was about 60 west then my neighbour put a 6 foot fence up .My problem was that 10 months of the year I was away so did not find this out until I return , So I bought the guy a 5 foot fence panel and I put the polarmount on a 2 foot concrete block so the 1 foot of the dish rim has the fence panel in the way but I can still see stuff even with the fence covering the bottom in those days I used this scope Luly but these days I use the sat look . I also need to give my jack a good rub down and a respray so got lots to do while we still have the lock

I wonder what you receive John with your Extended C-band lnb I wont be able to use that with the corotor as it only covers the standard C .7 -4.2 maybe I could mount a offset lnb and feed to the new mount .

Thanks again to all the info as got a lot to learn all over again .

My two main signal sources for broadcast extended 4.5 -4.8 GHz sigs are from 40.5° West and 65° West but they could pop up in new locations at any time. They are usually pretty low in signal strength so a 3.7 mtr reflector is ideal. You are well catered for to gather plenty of signal strength from virtually anything C-band but the next fly in the ointment to 'pittle on your strawberries' will be some of the modern modulation / encryption formats

 

[Channel Hopper]

I wonder what you receive John with your Extended C-band lnb I wont be able to use that with the corotor as it only covers the standard 3.7 -4.2 maybe I could mount a offset lnb and feed to the new mount .

The C band flange is good for 3.35 to 4.85 GHz with cutoffs slightly beyond those.

Your corotor is OK for any LNB you can bolt onto it, if a little deaf on a smaller dish.

 

[subman]

Yes I fully understand what your saying Rimants but I dont own a full size Angle-grinder but I have some small steel cutting wheels for the dremel that I had to use on the tower to cut some shackles off with so can that should do the job in a few minutes .

All understood John 4.5 -4.8 GHz sigs on 40.5° West and 65° West yes I should be ok for those as I used to watch Panam sat on 45 West and Premier channel on intelsat 27 west all this is well before sky fired up .
Yes good old encrypted yes I have fun and games when listening in on the scanner many years ago I used to plug my scanner into the feed using a DC blocker and you could hear listen to some interesting stuff but I dare say its all encrypted these days because my scanner could cover the IF freq of the LNB .

Thanks CH I did not think the corotor would cover 3.35 - 4.85 Ghz but its just out of band . Do you think I would get any better gain if I removed the first elbow on the corotor and bolted the Ku LNB straight onto the corotor in the same way I installed the C Band LNB I bolted it straight onto the corotor flange and not the elbow as we all know bends cause loss .

 

[frankviana]

I need too to test a lot of C band. Here in Brazil we don't found this kind of skew motor.

This is mine, but damaged.

 

[frankviana]

I did this tests today, lol

 

[subman]

Hi FS I think my problem could be corrosion I can turn the small element by hand but nothing happens if I use the control from the receiver but I will unscrew the motor from the corotor and see if it works or not but I have got a replacement corotor coming .The motors are available on Ebay but I seem to remember you have very high import duty when you buy outside Brazil . But the motors are about 20$-30$ on ebay from the states .

Ok on your LNBs yes I have been trying to buy a SMW Quad Multiband LNB but its very hard to find , Where abouts in Brazil are you ?